Rear Lower Control Arm Bushing | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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Rear Lower Control Arm Bushing

eqppwqqep

Active Member
Joined
February 1, 2008
Messages
50
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City, State
Jackson, TN
Year, Model & Trim Level
2002 4WD
Preface this with the fact that I have replaced both rear toe links on my friggin vehicle in the past week as they had gone bad. I am pretty burned on the idea that those were "dealer only" items. Please tell me this is not the case with this part.

The bushing in my left rear lower control arm is out. If I jack the car up and play with the wheel, I can see movement at the control arm and knuckle. I suspect this HAS to be replaced.

For refernec, it is part number 10 in this explosion:
https://www.silverstatefordparts.co...120&callout=10&catalogid=1&displayCatalogid=0

Can I replace just the bushing or am I forced into a $400 part? Remember, I just spent $320 on dealer only parts....:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:
 



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Well I tore it down today. Getting to that bushing is stupid easy. Just undo the lateral link and then the control arm/knuckle bolt and the axle swings up. Both rear bushing are fine. The left side doesn't have play, but the right side does. I torqued the right side down and it still has play. You can literally see the knuckle move on the LCA. I am starting to suspect bolt slop. It seems like the bolt fits somewhat loose in the knuckle. No matter how much you torque that bolt down, with that much slop, it is going to move. How likely is it bolt slop and is the only fix to replace the knuckle?
Any help is appreciated. Also, how hard is it to replace the front ball joints in the UCAs?
 






Most definitely bolt slop in the knuckle. Putting the bolt in the knuckle without going through the LCA shows that I can wiggle that bolt around in there in nearly every direction. No amount of torque will help. The options I am seeing at this point:
- New bolt
- New knuckle
- Bushes for the bolt.
 






@eqppwqqep,

would like to know how you solved this.
 






I have the same problem and would like to know if/how you solved it. The rear hums I was told I needed a new rear bearing and decided to do it myself (thanks to the posts on that subject on here). I pulled the wheel and was getting ready to pull the caliper, the UCL and toe link and I decided to double check where the play actually is. All of the play I could see was between the LCA and the knuckle; with no play between the CV axle and the knuckle. Can anyone tell me if this indicates that I may only need to replace the LCA bushing and not the bearing or not?
 






Correct me if I'm wrong but the UAC on the front have to be replaced as a whole unit. You can replace the ball joint but some have had problems with the ball joint falling out of the OEM. I personally just had mu upper and lowers replaced on 03 and ended up going with the whole arm. Uppers were 83 ea. and lowers were 173 ea. And now finding out I need cv's for the back!!!
 






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